The whereabouts of a 27-year-old prison escapee remained unknown Monday as a weeklong manhunt involving some 6,600 police officers on a small forested island off Shikoku failed to nab the convicted thief.
Police in Hiroshima and Ehime prefectures have been pursuing Tatsuma Hirao on Mukaishima Island in the Seto Inland Sea since he escaped from Matsuyama Prison in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, on April 8.
Hirao has left a trail of clues including fingerprints on cars he broke into and trash left from sweets and milk products he consumed. As of Saturday, the Hiroshima police said they had received 145 witness reports of a man resembling Hirao.